A short break from the Angel Crafts. It’s time to rant.
Let me try to break this down as best as I can in my current
mental state. What mental state is that? Damn well irritated and pissed, that’s
what.
Now, the sharing and forwarding as aforementioned shall be
further broken down to two categories:
1.
Sharing to the masses (ie: Your own Facebook
Timeline, Instagram, Twitter,…)
2.
Sharing with specific indivuduals (ie: Sharing
onto a friend’s timeline, private message, …)
Now while I have certain irritations of (1), I understand
that it is your own channel and therefore you should be afforded certain rights
as to whatever it is you choose to post there; as I do in my blog here. If I
should despise so much as to the content you are sharing then it is up to me to
unfriend/block/filter you, rather than it is for you to think of why I should
be irritated by what it is you post on your
choice of media. Easy way to put it, if I don’t like the tv show on air, I
should turn off the tv instead of picketing for the show to be cancelled. So
let us leave (1) alone. For now.
Whatever written henceforth shall refer to (2) specifically
in mind. It may or may not also be relevant to (1), however, the topic of
discussion here is (2). Remember that.
Now, regarding (2). Let me clarify herewith that I am not
entirely opposed to people sharing stuff with me, and I do not expect that each
thing one shares with me must be handwritten or self-crafted. On the contrary,
I do enjoy people sharing pre-made stuff they found on the internet or wherever
with me in the following conditions:
1.
It is something we share in common, an interest,
or something we talk about or joke about. No explanation necessary, because it
is something that connects us, therefore just in sharing it with me I get at
what it is you are trying to convey. An inside joke, or something like that.*
2.
Something that you think is specifically
relevant to me, that you think I particularly should take note of. Now this
might need some form of accompanying note (ie: hey, I just thought you might
like to look at this because…)
I do not like this habit people have of sharing things “just
because”. Why do I say “just because”? Well, for starters, they read that one
thing, regard it as some God-sent epitome message, then send it out to all
means within their capacity. It is one thing when it is on social media. The
term “media” suggests a platform for one to disperse…Social media – a medium in
which one disperses whatever amongst the people they socialize with.. However!
IT HAS INVADED INSTANT MESSAGES.
Again, let me narrow down the scope of my irritation and
place my disclaimer that henceforth I shall be referring to:
1.
People sharing random crap.
2.
People
sharing random crap specifically with me.
As in personally sending it to me. For my viewing. As in, just for me to see.
To make sure I see it. Get the picture?
3.
I either am not made aware of the reason, or the
person has no particular reason other than “just because”.
4.
The reason is not specific towards me, but
rather an attempt at a blanket plea of attention, just sent out to individuals
instead of out in “mass” media.
5.
It is sent through instant messaging apps.
Now, not that I am so happy to
have “Buy now!! Magical tea maker only for a limited time!! Chance to earn 7k
in three months!!!” pasted onto my timeline (MY timeline. As in, the one you
get after clicking on MY name.) However, since I am no longer particularly
active in that form of social media, and it happens rarely enough that I can
just remove and block it without much irritation creeping up my capillaries, I
shall leave it be. For now. Again, not because I am happy to accommodate those,
but more because I have a more tailored matter to rant about.
So anyway, let me lay out my grievances
over this habit of sharing stories/”info”/”news” to my IM apps:
1. Whether
I like it or not, there is a notification and because it is a message from you
to me, I open it thinking you might have something to say to me. I’m hoping for
something like “hey, haven’t heard from you in a while. Wanna grab a cup of
coffee or something?” instead I get “TRUE INFO from Inspector Gadget of Beverly
Hills. Two murder bla bla bla….” Do you see what you just did? You brought my
hopes up, then you kicked it right in the nuts. Thank you. In case you didn’t
get that, I was being sarcastic. Thank you soooooo much. There. I did it again.
2. More
often than not, I have seen the message from –
a.
Other Social Media where you know, they paste it
for the “mass”es to see.
b.
Eons and eons ago, which somehow had circulated
around the globe, then after some time it found its way back to you. How many
times is this Inspector Gadget going to find those same bloody murderers?
c.
Other nut-kickers like you who also thought I
would be delighted to receive this TRUE STORY that his TRUE STORY that YOU were
excluded from in the initial cycle of nut-kicking.
3. Sometimes
it’s not even TRUE!!!!! You’re just an idiot for believing it. If you shared it
with me because you thought it was bogus, then you should indicate it either in
conversation or there should be a backstory I can refer to.
And with apps like WhatsApp
enabling group messaging, this habit of circulating stuff on no other basis or
further research is highly escalating. What society are we nurturing if even
the elder generation who supposedly have gone through Tertiary Education,
having done Research Methodology, Referencing, and written whole Thesis, still
get caught up in sharing stuff “just because”? Seriously some of the stuff that
circulates requires a special flavor of stupid for one to believe it. Just
because someone took a picture and captioned something below it, quoted names
and agencies and qualifications and statistics, does not award it the status of
being true!
*Arguably, you might say, in
reference to accepting only inside jokes and such, that it is I who have been
ignorant of the connection the other person was trying to make with me. In
other words, the person had a “because”, it’s just that I didn’t get it. Well to
that, I would like to say:
Well then we’re not that
connected then. It was your imagination. I don’t know what you’re getting at
and you didn’t send in any further clarification on the matter.
It is one thing when they send it
to the WhatsApp groups, and you have the option to mute those (only for a
week!), but when you send it to me personally, it makes a sound!!!! And
sometimes they send it at ungodly hours and it’s just a f-ing nutcracker!
Look, if you have something to
say to me, say it to me. Send a picture, maybe, to convey what it is you want
to say to me, if words are too awkward. That would be fine. But ask yourself, will
I get the message, or will I just be like WTF are you sending me? BUT NEVER,
EVER send me the special-flavor-of-stupid “true”stories and “info”s PLEASE. If
you care for me, then tell me. If you’re worried for my safety, then tell me
what I can do to keep myself safe. Or better yet, keep me safe. But don’t send me these blanket warnings and hope
that one of them will strike a vein with me. You sent it to me personally. It
should be applicable to me personally as well. Does that make sense?
There is a whole book to be
written about why those circulating crap came to be. Attention wh*res,
corporations trying to cripple other corporations, a joke that got sniffed up
and thought to be actually true by the special-flavor-of-stupid people. I won’t
be writing that book. For now.
*deep breath*
I worry that it becomes a
societal norm where things are done “just because” and that it’s free, it can
be done, so it is done. People
question why I am ranting over a few unwanted shared messages, instead of
questioning why they are circulating those things themselves without making any
further effort to at least verify the stuff personally. Just because it came
from someone you know also doesn’t mean it’s true. They could’ve just received
it from some other person they know. And that’s how the circle goes.
Well, as you can see, most of my
displeasure is at those “True story” – ish messages. Especially the ones that
come with a lot of exclamation marks. As if it made it true-er by making it
seem loud.
BREAKING NEWS!! This is from
Prof. Xanadu Xadan from Oxford Institution of Cambridge. Contact him at the
number 979732-97 for further verification IF YOU REFUSE THIS GROUND-BREAKING
DISCOVERY!!!! It has been found that penguins have secretly been able to fly
all along. They just hid it from us humans so we think they are cute and
harmless since all they do is waddle about and give pebbles to their soulmates.
According to a study done in ALBUQUERQUE LAB with 20 years of outstanding
RESEARCH ACHIEVEMENTS, penguins have actually flown across the world at night
when we thought they were huddling together for warmth. It was all an elaborate
plan made by the ILLUMINATI to take over our clouds. SHARE THIS IF YOU CARE!!!!
IGNORE THIS IF YOU DARE!!!!
See? Maybe in a couple of months this will make its way to
my IM.
*eyes roll upwards, gagging actions ensue*
Oh, and then there's this other special flavour. The ones that send you pictures. Again, if it means something to me, or to us, or it's something we connect with, then fine. Keep 'em coming. Sometimes you just want to say "hey" without the pressure of starting up a conversation. Ok. I accept that.
But, if you are my insurance agent, then please for the love of God, don't be sending me pictures of ANYTHING unless it is that of a cheque that you are banking in to my name. Seriously, stop reminding me of your existence every morning. It's disturbing! No, it is not a "good" morning when the first sound I hear is a notification from you with a random picture (Thank God not of you) of flowers and sunshine. Yes, I know you exist. Stop reminding me that! Yes, I know you're not flirting with me, but there are other levels of disturbance one can create just by sending random pictures with supposedly inspirational words on them to me. It does not make me want to buy any more insurance from you, it makes me want to call the police to issue a restraining order.
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